Measles murder trials postponed

Published 1:00 am, Thursday, November 10, 2005

LITCHFIELD - There won't be any more court action this year for those accused of killing a New Milford teen in 1997, but the case will heat up again in 2006 with trials for two defendants.

June
Bates Seger
, 25, and
Keith Foster
, 29, have trials scheduled in the opening months of next year. Foster's case is set for Jan. 10 and Seger's Feb. 7, according to court officials. Seger's trial had been originally scheduled to start Wednesday, but her lawyer had to change the date because of conflicts in his schedule.

Six other men and women have already pleaded guilty for their roles in the 1977 death of 13-year-old

Maryann Measles
. She was kidnapped, raped, murdered and then thrown into the Housatonic River. Measles was targeted because she intended to work with police in lodging statutory rape charges against the men.

Seger and the other two females were friends of the men and were angry at Measles for having sex with them and for attempting to get them arrested, officials said.

The victim's mother, Cindi Measles, said she doesn't mind that Seger's trial has been rescheduled.

"They are locked up. If they were walking the streets, I'd be having a hard time with it getting pushed off. They are locked up where they need to be," Measles said.

Measles, who moved this year from New Milford to Torrington, said the move was a good thing for her emotionally.

"It was hard living by the river. It was hard for me. Every time I had to go out and get milk, there was the Housatonic River. It kept it alive for me," Measles said.

"It's a lot better emotionally that I'm not walking, driving those same streets every day."